The Ebola patient in an isolation unit in a Texas hospital, Thomas Eric Duncan, has died, officials said today.

“It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at 7:51 a.m.,” the hospital said in a statement.

“Mr. Duncan succumbed to an insidious disease, Ebola. He fought courageously in this battle. Our professionals, the doctors and nurses in the unit, as well as the entire Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas community, are also grieving his passing,” the statement said.

Duncan, a Liberian man who had traveled to Texas to visit family, was the first person to contract the disease while in the U.S. and became the first person to die of the disease in the U.S.

Four health workers were brought back from West Africa where they contracted the disease and were treated and released. A fifth person, cameraman Ashoka Mukpo, is being treated at a Nebraska facility.